The Kingfisher Board of Education officially has a new member…and a new set of officers.

Brad Wittrock took the oath of offi ce for seat No. 3 Thursday at a special meeting held at noon.

Wittrock won an April 4 election against Mitch Massey to fill the void left by outgoing member Jim Perdue.

Perdue didn’t run for re-election after serving a five-year term.

He spent the last year as board president.

That duty now falls to Charles Walker, who was voted by his fellow members to serve the office as he begins his fifth year on the board.

Carly Franks, who was absent from the meeting, is the vice president for the coming year.

Wittrock will be the board clerk in his first year.

After the board reorganization, Wittrock joined Walker and members Terry Payne and Dana Golbek in approving a stipend for all school personnel.

Each full-time employee will receive a stipend of $1,625 gross, which will come to about $1,500 after taxes.

Part-time employees will receive a pro-rated amount.

It’s the second such stipend for employees this school year and follows the trend of recent years.

“The employees are the backbone of our district,” Superintendent David Glover said in recommending the move.

“I told the teachers don’t expect this twice a year forever and it’s going to have to come to an end at some time, but we’re in a position we can do it.

“Let’s give them a going- away present for the summer.”

Glover informed the board of the resignation of Summer Scott as the high school art teacher.

“We’ll actively pursue a new one to take her place, but we’ll be hard-pressed to find someone as good as her,” Glover said.

The board also voted to approve a lease-purchase agreement to have artificial turf installed at the football/ soccer field as well as the north softball field ( Ed. note: See related story on Page 1).